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Charter Communications, in exchange for the Federal Communications Commission approving a two-year set-top waiver for its downloadable security technology, has offered to do the following: adapt its entire system to all-digital within nine months after the two-year window expires; add broadband Internet with speeds of 100 Mbps or higher in 200,000 new homes within two years of the waiver; and allocate to its customers CableCARDS for TiVo DVRs and other devices that use them until the point when a third-party provider offers a device with downloadable security.

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Charter Communications has received a two-year set-top waiver from the Federal Communications Commission, which believes the action could help promote the development and use of downloadable security tools in the industry. "The plan mimics the one Charter CEO Tom Rutledge championed as the chief operating officer of Cablevision Systems, which was granted a similar waiver in 2009," writes Jeff Baumgartner.

The Department of Energy should refrain from offering its own benchmark for set-top box energy efficiency until the success of a "landmark" agreement between the Consumer Electronics Association and MVPDs can be assessed, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association wrote in a filing. The first phase of the pact "will result in annual residential electricity savings of at least $1.5 billion, reducing carbon emissions by the equivalent of four power plants annually," NCTA writes. The American Cable Association, in a separate filing, said a proposed Energy Department mandate for testing boxes would prove burdensome for smaller cablers.

Charter Communications, which is seeking a two-year waiver from a federal ban on using set-top boxes with integrated security, is citing the high cost of producing boxes that work with the removable CableCARD and its forthcoming downloadable video security technology. The downloadable security feature is integral to the cable provider's switch to an all-digital system, the company said, and it wants to use an integrated security system during the rollout.

Charter Communications is seeking a two-year waiver on the ban on integrated set-top boxes to allow the company to complete its all-digital transformation, according to a Federal Communications Commission filing. Cablevision received similar permission from the FCC, which sees the move to all-digital cable as a way to clear more bandwidth for broadband.

Charter Communications has asked for a two-year exemption to the federal prohibition on set-top boxes with integrated security to allow the provider to implement an "open-standard, downloadable security solution that supports third party retail devices," according to a filing with the Federal Communications Commission. Charter CEO Tom Rutledge during his previous stint at Cablevision developed a similar downloadable system.